Food! Food! Food! The Good, Bad, Ugly, and Tasty steampunk treats and drinks

[DreamHazard]

I have no idea how to cook it and be sure it won't resemble shoe leather!

Poaching is the most effective method, keep a knife handy and poke it every 3 minutes until you feel little resistance, then pull it out before it turns to rubber.

[J. Wilhelm]

When I grow old and I'm filthy rich, I want to do what these two chefs are doing    Chefs, Jaques Pepin and Rick Bayless. cooking in the Yucatan beaches...

http://livewellnetwork.com/Mexico-One-Plate-At-A-Time/episodes/Rick-and-Jacques-Two-Chefs-at-Playa/7582761

[CapnHarlock]

A “Good Luck” Recipe for the New Year

For those of you in the Southeastern US, you are probably used to friends and neighbors asking you “Did you eat your black-eyed peas yet?” on New Year's Day (and perhaps being dragged into the kitchen and given a plateful, if you answered “no”). Mostly unknown in the rest of the world, it is a Southern US “good luck” tradition that dates back to Civil War days, when Northern troops destroyed or confiscated “people food” crops, but black-eyed peas, raised back then as a fodder crop, were generally ignored and became “survival food” that kept folks alive during the winter.  This is how traditions get started.

This one is delicious, even if you think you don't like black-eyed peas, (mostly) traditional, not really THAT bad for you, and something of a “gentle introduction” to dried-bean cookery for folks who may not be really sure what to do with all those cases of dried beans on the shelves. A slow-cooker is the easiest way to do this, but I'll include a couple “hacks”, that dirty extra pots, too, but are yummy.

1lb dry blackeyed peas
1 “country-style” smoked hamhock
½ lb smoked, sliced bacon
1 large bunch fresh thyme
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
about 2 qt chicken stock (low sodium, or you'll end up with a salt-lick)
water
1 tbsp whole-grain mustard (optional)
hot sauce (optional)

1) Soak beans in warm water overnight. Easiest way to do this is to dump beans and water into the slow-cooker, set it on warm and just let it sit. Check once or twice and add water as needed. Drain in the morning.
2) Either:
2a)  Make 'ham stock' with your smoked hock, more onion and celery by heavily-simmering in plain water about 2-3 hours, until the meat falls apart, skim excess fat, shred meat  , add ham stock  and (less) chicken stock to slow-cooker with your soaked beans and cook tender – OR -
2b) Toss beans, onion, hamhock and chicken stock in crockpot and cook on high about 2 hours, go to low until beans are tender, then shred meat and return to pot.
3) Either:
            3a) Cook bacon in a skillet until “almost crispy”, Drain, save some bacon fat.   - OR -
            3b) (if lazy like me) Line a cookie sheet with foil, put in a baker's cooling rack, lay bacon on the rack, put in COLD oven, raise temp to 425^F. Cook 15-17 minutes, drain bacon, save all the rendered fat in a heatproof container.

4) Saute the diced onion, celery and bell pepper in a little bacon grease, add to beans. Chop up the cooked bacon, add to beans, and let it cook another 30 minutes or so. Stir a few times.

Traditionally, served with braised collard greens, but I must admit, I prefer Swiss Chard. If you add a scoop of white rice, it becomes “Hoppin' John” (and a source of complete protein). I made this once when I had a couple vegan guests, using 'bacon-flavored TVP' (the kind you get at the grocery store) and it wasn't half-bad Mustard and hot sauce are semi-traditional, but I like them.

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

[George Salt]

Pork pie.. I think that qualifies as a suitably steampunk repast.

I've been meaning to try making one for ages, and I still haven't but I did make the pastry to produce a duck'n'gammon pie in the same style to use up leftovers from Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The basic plan of action came from the BBC Melton Mowbray recipe.

I substituted the lard in the pasrty with duck fat skimmed from the stock - it was what was available.  The pastry turned out perfect, but it takes a nack to get used to how it works when forming the pie case.

The filling was just the cold meats chopped and packed into the pie shell.  This has meant that the filling is rather loose, although I left the fat on the gammon to try and bind it as it cooked.  I'll definitely try this in the future with pork/game from raw with a minced component to act as binder.

I can highly recommend making your own pies for your picnics next year..

[D.Oakes]

Yesterday's breakfast was my philosophy with steampunk applied to food.

Took a Civil War Confederate camp recipe: fry bacon and then make a cake out corn flour and water and fry that in the bacon grease. 

Knowing my fiance would not be as a keen on a rather spartan dish, I decided to modernize it a bit. 

About 4 cups of corn flour, 2 large eggs, one part milk to one part water till it was ALMOST runny, and cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla to taste.  Mixed it all together and then came out with two rather large flat cakes which fried up nicely in the bacon grease.  When finished I put butter and syrup on them.  They are awesome!  More solid than a normal pancake, but quite good and hearty.  And trust me, you would not want a stack of these, I could barely finish one. 

[Will Howard]

Yesterday's breakfast was my philosophy with steampunk applied to food.

Took a Civil War Confederate camp recipe: fry bacon and then make a cake out corn flour and water and fry that in the bacon grease. 

And you didn't mention eating the BACON!

[D.Oakes]

Yesterday's breakfast was my philosophy with steampunk applied to food.

Took a Civil War Confederate camp recipe: fry bacon and then make a cake out corn flour and water and fry that in the bacon grease. 

And you didn't mention eating the BACON!

Sweet....bacon grease....I was too busy thinking about that to mention eating the bacon. 

[J. Wilhelm]

Now this is something we all can agree upon:  This Tweet comes from none other than Craig Ferguson himself today:

Craig Ferguson ‏@CraigyFerg

http://twitpic.com/bseq0s  Perhaps science has come too far? Awesome & terrifying. #tasty

HAGGIS PIZZA?  IS THERE SUCH A THING?

[Dr. Madd]

Normally, this would be in Dinner with Dr. Madd, but here.

OL.. Tonight, I poured water, milk, butter,concentrated seafood stock in cube form, garlic powder, black pepper, and cheese and shells mix into water and added basil. Let it boil.


Meanwhile, I put minced Bacon, 1 can of baby shrimp, 1 diced tomato and 1 diced onion and mushrooms into a skillet and sauteed it.


Added mexican fiesta blend cheese shreds to the pasta and and added the sautee. Poured it into two metal pans and topped with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Baked it.


Bacon, Shrimp, Cheese , tomato and mushroom Casserole with onion.

[Will Howard]

Normally, this would be in Dinner with Dr. Madd, but here.

OL.. Tonight, I poured water, milk, butter,concentrated seafood stock in cube form, garlic powder, black pepper, and cheese and shells mix into water and added basil. Let it boil.


Meanwhile, I put minced Bacon, 1 can of baby shrimp, 1 diced tomato and 1 diced onion and mushrooms into a skillet and sauteed it.


Added mexican fiesta blend cheese shreds to the pasta and and added the sautee. Poured it into two metal pans and topped with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Baked it.


Bacon, Shrimp, Cheese , tomato and mushroom Casserole with onion.

WOW!

[J. Wilhelm]

Just loving all my permutations on sausage dishes tonight...  A bit drunk on Bock (brown ale) style beer, eating that American staple of macaroni in cheese sauce (white cheddar) and pork+jalapeño chiles+cheddar sausage*.... "Bangers and Mac??"   .... hmmm.  This is so good.  I'm alright tonight  

*Mr. Howard: I recommend these sausages (sold fresh on the casing) available at your local HEB.
I like to boil them first - for storage purposes, and then when I need them you can pop them in the oven at 400F or fry them.

[RJBowman]

The ultimate steampunk pastry:


Shredded wheat baklava with pistachios. Baklava is associated with Greece; the shredded wheat is a product of nineteenth century industrial food processing; the pistachios are from the middle east; and you can find this dish at all the middle-eastern bakeries in the Detroit area.

[J. Wilhelm]

I just had to share this dish due to its wonderful colours; as you know me, I'd be the resident expert on Mexican food.  And this would be a 19th. C. dish probably created in the period between the declaration of independence from Spain (1810) and the Mexican Revolution (Civil War) of 1910:


It is rumoured that Mexican Catholic nuns were responsible for the creation of this dish, and that patriotism was involved in it's conception, and that the dish was invented for the first emperor of Mexico, Agustin de Iturbide, right after Mexico's declaration of independence. The dish is a variation on Meat stuffed chili peppers (a large poblano pepper - not to be confused with a bell pepper), and has a cream based sauce and a patriotic theme (flag colours) which leads me to believe the rumours on it's period origins.

However, I have my doubts on the historical dating of this dish... The sauce, being cream based with nuts is most likely to have been an influence from the French Intervention during the reign of (Second) Emperor Maximilian  in the 1860's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico - and as I have discussed before, his Belgian wife, Carlotta had a lot of influence in bringing European refinement to Mexican cuisine (among some types of food that you will never see outside of Mexico, unfortunately) - so this dish is an amalgam of native ingredients, Spanish styles and more refined continental European styles....

From Wiki:  Chiles en Nogada
Minced Beef Stuffed Chilies in Walnut-Cream Sauce garnished with Pomegranate Seeds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiles_en_nogada

Chiles en nogada is a dish from Mexican cuisine. The name comes from the Spanish word for the walnut tree, nogal.[1] It consists of poblano chiles filled with picadillo (a mixture usually containing shredded meat, aromatics, fruits and spices) topped with a walnut-based cream sauce, called nogada, and pomegranate seeds, giving it the three colors of the Mexican flag: green for the chili, white for the nut sauce and red for the pomegranate. The walnut used to prepare nogada is a variety called Nogal de Castilla or Castillan Walnut, also known as the English Walnut.[citation needed]

Recipe from Saveur http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Mexico-Poblano-Walnut-Sauce
INGREDIENTS

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

FOR THE FILLING:
8 oz. pork loin
2 cloves garlic, peeled, plus 2 finely chopped
1 large white onion, halved
Kosher salt, to taste
2 tbsp. lard (available at emperorfood.com) or canola oil
2 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
3 plum tomatoes, cored, peeled, and finely chopped
2 tbsp. raisins
2 tbsp. finely chopped blanched almonds
½ Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
½ pear, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
½ peach, peeled, pitted, and finely chopped
½ medium ripe plantain or banana, peeled and finely chopped

FOR THE WALNUT SAUCE:
4 oz. walnuts
½ cup milk
6 oz. queso fresco (similar to cottage cheese of Feta cheese, available at mexgrocer.com)
1 cup crema (available at mexgrocer.com) substitute with creme fraiche or sour cream
2 tbsp. sherry
3 tbsp. sugar
Kosher salt, to taste

FOR THE CHILES:
½ poblano chiles (these are hot - not to be confused with the mild bell peppers)
2 cups canola oil, for frying
1 cup flour
5 eggs, separated
2 tbsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
Seeds of 1 pomegranate

INSTRUCTIONS

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1. Make the filling: Bring pork, 2 whole cloves garlic, half the onion, and 2 cups water to a boil in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat; season with salt, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, covered, until pork is tender, about 1 hour. Transfer pork to a cutting board, and pour cooking liquid through a fine strainer into a bowl; reserve ½ cup cooking liquid, and discard any remaining along with solids. Once cool, finely chop pork, and set aside with cooking liquid. Return saucepan to medium-high heat, and add lard; finely chop remaining onion, and add to pan along with minced garlic, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 8 minutes. Add parsley and tomatoes, and cook, stirring, until tomatoes break down, about 5 minutes. Return pork and cooking liquid to pan along with raisins, almonds, apple, pear, peach, and plantain, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fruit is cooked through and mixture is thick, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and season with salt; set aside.

2. Make the walnut sauce: Place walnuts in a 2-qt. saucepan, and cover with water; bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Drain, and use a stiff-bristled brush to peel away most of the skin from walnuts; set aside. Bring milk to just under a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat, and add walnuts; let sit, covered, to soften nuts, about 30 minutes. Transfer walnuts and milk to a blender along with queso fresco, crema, sherry, and sugar, and purée until very smooth and thick, at least 2 minutes. Season with salt, and transfer to a bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

3. For the chiles: Heat broiler to high. Place poblano chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet and broil, turning, until blackened all over, about 20 minutes. Transfer chiles to a bowl, and let cool. Peel and discard skins, stems, and seeds, and cut a slit down the length of each chile. Remove and discard seeds and ribs, keeping chile intact. Place about 2–3 tbsp. filling inside each chile, and close chile around filling to form a tight roll. Refrigerate until ready to use.

4. Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, place flour on a shallow plate, and set aside. Beat egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form; whisk in egg yolks, salt, and vinegar. Working in batches, dredge each chile in flour, shaking off excess, and then coat in egg batter. Place in oil, and fry, flipping once, until golden brown and filling is heated through, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chiles to a wire rack to drain. Transfer to serving plates, and spoon walnut sauce over chiles to cover completely; sprinkle with pomegranate seeds before serving.

 
A Tip For Peeling Walnuts "Before making the chiles en nogada, remove the walnuts' skins; otherwise the sauce will taste bitter. Loosen the skins by boiling the nuts for 5 minutes, then drain the nuts in a colander, and blast them with your sink's spray hose. If you don't have a spray hose, scrub the nuts with a brush under running water." —Hugo Ortega, chef-owner of Hugo's in Houston, Texas

From GabyClavoYCanela.blogspot.com via Artificial Radio http://artificialradio.blogspot.com/2012/08/el-chile-en-nogada-producto-de-la.html

[Sgt Octavius Zocksteam]

I LIKE STEAMED RICE AND STEAMED CARROTS AND STEAMED PEAS AND STEAMED CRACKERS AND STEAMED FRUIT AND STEAMED BEER AND STEAMED WINE AND STEAMED COOKIES AND STEAMED BREAD AND STEAMED BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[Will Howard]

I LIKE STEAMED RICE AND STEAMED CARROTS AND STEAMED PEAS AND STEAMED CRACKERS AND STEAMED FRUIT AND STEAMED BEER AND STEAMED WINE AND STEAMED COOKIES AND STEAMED BREAD AND STEAMED BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

By the way, steamed lettuce looks & tastes like spinach...

[DreamHazard]

I LIKE STEAMED RICE AND STEAMED CARROTS AND STEAMED PEAS AND STEAMED CRACKERS AND STEAMED FRUIT AND STEAMED BEER AND STEAMED WINE AND STEAMED COOKIES AND STEAMED BREAD AND STEAMED BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

By the way, steamed lettuce looks & tastes like spinach...

Can't abide spinach cooked, though I use it raw in place of lettuce. It has a certain bitterness when steamed.

[J. Wilhelm]

What about just steamer for the person?  Or is that too nondescript?

That term has an unfortunate connection with Cleveland.

Other green leafy vegetables are a better choice:  "Green Mustards" and "Swiss Chard" are some examples...

[superbill22]

I got the bug to finally share the recipe for my coveted snack treats. So far as I'm aware, this is my innovation, (though I could be wrong, I haven't really searched the series of tubes to verify). Feel free to share it around if you'd like.

http://bit.ly/ZfPoQx

[J. Wilhelm]

I got the bug to finally share the recipe for my coveted snack treats. So far as I'm aware, this is my innovation, (though I could be wrong, I haven't really searched the series of tubes to verify). Feel free to share it around if you'd like.

http://bit.ly/ZfPoQx

Sounds great but this should be posted in Anatomical!  Otherwise eventually this post gets lost...

How about the Food Food Food! thread? http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,11121.0.html

[superbill22]

Sounds great but this should be posted in Anatomical!  Otherwise eventually this post gets lost...

You know, I thought about it but seeing as how it's not necessarily steampunk, I thought maybe off topic would be best.

[J. Wilhelm]

I don't know where to place this post, so I'll drop it here in the general food thread.

You have heard me rant on Mexican food before.  But have you ever wondered, if you can identify a national/ethnic cuisine restaurant which could qualify as the "best, most authentic" on a global scale?  You know the one in which even in it's native country can be counted a standard all others strive for?

Well for Mexican cuisine look no further.  I have fond memories from childhood and lately I have been on a tear jerking virtual tour of my childhood hometown of Mexico City (I was born in the US but raised there by my grandparents),  Here it is:  The most Mexican Restaurant among all Mexican restaurants.  The best tasting, most authentic, mouth watering collection of exotic dishes your palate will never have the privilege to taste:  "El Caballo Bayo" ("The Brown Horse").  The restaurant has a Hacienda style interior and has several 19th. C. carriages inside among tons of Mexican and Spanish paraphernalia.  But the food --if I could only communicate smell and taste over the Internet!  On the far right there are a couple of industrial metal curtains:  they have a take-home kitchen on the side.... if only I could get there.

[RJBowman]

I don't know where to place this post, so I'll drop it here in the general food thread.

You have heard me rant on Mexican food before.  But have you ever wondered, if you can identify a national/ethnic cuisine restaurant which could qualify as the "best, most authentic" on a global scale?

http://alameerrestaurant.com/

Lebanese. In Dearborn, Michigan, USA. Maybe there are better chefs in Lebanon, but they don't have American agriculture. This is possibly the best middle-eastern food in the world.

[J. Wilhelm]

Today I made Chicken in Mole sauce - the easy way.  The easiest way is to grab a hold of one of these jars (a single jar will be about $2 in lo local supermarket):

http://www.walmart.com/ip/17768512?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227000000000&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=21486607510&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem



Easy Chicken in Mole Poblano

1 8.25 Oz Jar of concentrated Mole Sauce, Doña María (available in many American supermarkets)
6 cups water
1lb Sweet Yellow Onion
2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
3.6 lbs of Chicken breasts, preferably with skin and ribs still attached.
6 cups water (1 cup = 8 Oz.)
16 Oz of plain white rice.

Sesame seeds (just for garnish)
Avocado (side dish or garnish)


The jar contains a quite solid "brick" of oily concentrated paste that is mean to be diluted; one part paste into 4 parts of chicken broth or fresh made stock.

But you may not even need to buy broth,  Instead boil 3 pieces of chicken breast with skin and bone - about 3-1/2 lbs and that will give you all the stock you need while cooking the chicken simultaneously.  Breast meat is best as the method insures a moist final product.

Method:

I won't tell you how to cook the rice, that's way too easy.  Just avoid using instant flavoured rice - the Mole sauce does all the heavy weight lifting here, so just plain rice or light garlic/herb-flavoured white rice will do fine.

In a large pot with lid, start by rendering and browning the chicken breasts on high heat with the 2 tablespoons of oil, skin side down.  Once browned, remove the breasts and set the aside.  Roughly chop 1/2 a yellow onion and brown the onion, until the bottom is covered in the now very brown drippings and caramelised onion.

Pour 1 cup of water in and de-glaze the bottom of the pot until all the drippings are dissolved in the water.  Place the breast back inside the pot and pour 5 more cups of water (actual volume depends on hpw much you need to cover the breasts).

Boil for at least 30 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 F at which point, take the chicken out again and boil down the liquid to about 4 cups in volume.  Dissolve the entire jar ("8 servings" as advertised actually about 8.25 Oz. of "brick" paste).  After boiling long enough for the paste to be fully dissolved, place chicken back into the pot and very roughly chop the other half of the onion into wedges and also place them in the pot.  Continue boiling until the consistency of the sauce thickens to taste.  It can be as liquid or thick as you like, but I find it useless to boil down to "Texas Chili - spoon standing up" thickness.  I prefer mine more watery than that, slightly thinner than the chocolate sauce you pour over ice cream and definitely thicker than Hungarian Goulash.

Serve with warm white-maize/corn tortillas (please don't use yellow corn - that's not right) or use slightly toasted wheat flour tortillas.  Serve over a bed of white rice - garnish with sesame seeds and a few long strips or rings of fresh onion.  A good idea is to serve with a few wedges of avocado on the plate.   The tortillas can either be eaten separately as a bread to pick up the sauce, or you can actually roll some of the chicken in mole with the avocado and make your own taco.

[J. Wilhelm]

Oh my God!  Chef Masaharu Morimoto (from Iron Chef fame) has a restaurant in Mexico City...
http://morimotomexicocity.com/en/?p=biografia
http://morimotomexicocity.com/en/?p=galeria